Blue Fire: Forces of Change
by Crow Jones
Summary: Sokka helps Azula discover she is not a monster, Azula helps him discover his monstrous side may not be all bad. Set 3 years after the 100 year war. (First fic).
1. Chapter 1: Blue Fire

The setting is 3 years after the 100 year war. The Southern Water Tribe is almost back to its former glory. There is still a bit of tension between the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. Some of the fire nation colonies have blended and do not simply want to go back to one nation or another. Aang is trying to broker peace between the nations, stopping all out war and fights for territory, and asking the spirits for guidance. Azula and Sokka are being sent out to deal with bandits amd more in what will become the United Republic of Nations.

* * *

"I'm trusting you, Azula," Zuko said, placing his hand on her shoulder and giving her a mildly concerned look, "to succeed and to come back safely."

"I tracked you and the avatar, and defeated you, several times. I think I can handle some unruly thugs and some uprisings, brother." She continued, "I still don't see why you won't let me select my own group."

Zuko facepalmed, nearly leaving a mark his forehead. "That should be pretty apparent. You attempted to murder one of your best friends AND partners, then when your other friend stopped you you had them thrown into one of the worst prisons the fire nation has to offer for months." He just stared at the ground shaking his head. "No one trusts you, Azula."

"I don't need their trust, as long as they fear me they will fall into line. Like always." Azula said, temporarily making one of the pillars rise in a blue spire of fire. Deep down she was already aware of this. Azula is no fool, She would likely never gain the trust of Mai and Ty Lee again short of miraculously saving them in their non perilous highborn lives, the only dangers they were put in she had put them in in some form or another, since they wanted action. She did enjoy making Zuko slap himself however.

Zuko saw the slight smirk on her face and squinted his eyes in annoyance then let out an exasperated sigh. He had fallen for yet another game. "Anyway, your partner for the journey will be here any minute," Zuko withheld a grin, he had his own ways to irk her.

"I don't get why you won't t just tell me who it-" At that moment she heard some stupid laughter in the hallway, soon it appeared at the door.

"Sup Lord Hotman," Sokka said with a ridiculously exaggerated bow.

"MY PARTNER IS THIS BUFFOON!?"

Zuko could no longer hold his laughter. "Yes Azula, this buffoon is your partner in this journey. Need I remind you that he came up with many if not most of the plans that lead to the avatar's escape from your grasp and being a perpetual thorn in the Fire Nation's side?"

"Combat strategies do not mean he is not an idiot in all other areas Zuzu" Azula then focused her gaze on Sokka. He does look like he has toughened up a bit since the war, despite the outward appearance he seems more focused as well.

Sokka resisted the reflex to flinch. Her golden cat eyes were a bit freaky sometimes, yet he noticed she was analyzing him. He maintained her gaze and began to study her, she had the same unsettling aura about her, but it felt as if she was feigning it. She seems to have maintained the same build, she's been keeping up with her training. "I'm not exactly ecstatic to be working with you either princess, but the world is more important than some old grudges and generalizations.".

"Can you all save this for the boat? I have meetings to attend,." said Zuko.

"Yes, my liege."

For some spirit forsaken reason the buffoon did a curtsy, then turned and waved her along. This is going to be a long trip.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"So we have a few hours until the ship is ready to go, what do you want to do princess?" Sokka stated, raising an eyebrow. Honestly he was just expecting her to venture off and find some place to be alone again. Apparently she'd been rather introverted since the war. Instead…

"Actually I wanted to see how much you've improved. I haven't seen you since the day of the black sun," Azula did a little smirk before her next remark " back then you could barely climb over a rock."

As they exited the Fire Lord's throne room, the guards did a half bow to Azula before she raised a hand to dismiss them, all but one.

He decided to ignore the later half of her statement "Since I will be presumably demonstrating with you, should we use the agni kai chambers?"

"I had the same idea, but you wont be fighting against me, it would be a shame for my partner to burst into flames before the journey even begins." She said while looking at her nails in a deadpan voice. "you'll spar against the captain of my royal guard"

They started walking towards the agni kai chambers, Azula's captain in tow.

"Are you sure this is a good idea princess?" The captain said and swallowed a little.

"I'm positive captain. Anyway, this is merely an exhibition of skill, so don't try to kill each other. Winner by knockout, or surrender" said Azula

The captain and Sokka took their places on opposite sides of the agni kai chamber. The captain slowly analyzed the man through his helmet and thought to himself. "the princess may not realize it, but this man is terrifying, He's slightly tall, and seems large, but all of his muscles are toned and lean. I could swear I saw him smirk for just a second before we took our positions, you don't have that sort of confidence before a fight unless you already know the result I'm glad he can't see me, or he'd notice how much I was sweating.".

"Begin"

as soon as she uttered the word Sokka was already in front of him, he took the sword halfway out of it's sheath to hit him in the stomach, instantly he slid it back, danced around him and hit a chi point in his lower back. He fell over like a tired mongoose dragon. Albeit one coughing up a little spit.

Sokka scratched the back of his head, seemingly a little confused with a big goofy grin. "well, his body is knocked out. Kinda"

Azula was stunned, to the untrained eye the fight would have been over if you blinked. When had this fool attained this level of skill? She tried to not to let her face display that she was actually a bit proud of him for coming this far.

"Well at least you wont be completely useless in our travels"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. I could put myself into a food coma the majority of the time" He said this in jest, trying to defuse the tension in the room. He noticed Azula seemed to be slightly in awe of his change, but she rarely gave compliments from what he was told. What she said was likely as good as it was going to get.

* * *

Azula sat on the ship in disbelief and disgust, even a minor amount of fear. She was watching Sokka, his eyes were ravenous, nearly animalistic. Flesh and drops of blood were flying everywhere. There was a sadistic smirk on his face, he was deriving great pleasure from his deed. It was a disturbing sight.

It was at this point Sokka finished up his burgers and patted his stomach "man, royal chefs really know how to throw down."

Sokka sat for a few minutes until his stomach settled, then went to sit on the deck of the ship with his back to the wall. He looked around a bit, the crew was barebones at this point because most of them were resting, some were playing paisho, which made him smirk. Entranced deep within his own thoughts, Sokka failed to notice Azula standing right beside him until she spoke.

"Wow, you're thinking, I didn't think you were capable of such a feat"

"It's hard work but it needs to be done" Sokka said sarcastically

Azula noticed he didn't exactly say that with as much humor as he usually does, it's not fun to verbally joust with someone while they are down. She's not great at feeling for others, but she's been learning to try. It would be useful if they are going to be partners for the next few months.

"What are you thinking about?" Azula said as she plastered on a fake smile, put her hand on his shoulder, and sat beside him.

"First things first, I'm thinking you need to work on your smile and _comforting_ touch, since at this point both are absolutely terrifying"

Azula was a bit taken aback that he saw through her so easily, but obliged and went back to her normal stone face and withdrew her hand.

"Alright, will you tell me now fool? A troubled mind isn't exactly one that is useful on the battlefield, and secondly, why do you keep staring at the moon so intently?"

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you about the moon, I will tell you what else is bothering me though" Sokka let out a sigh, deciding how much detail to give her. He knows any information she hears could potentially be used later in a cutting fashion. "It's about suki"

"Oh?" Azula attempted to feign interest

"Recently she made her final decision and just concluded our goals aren't compatible" Sokka lowered his head to star at the floor "She wants to stay on Kyoshi Island and protect it."

"How droll" She stated with an eye roll

"Clearly I can't do that since I would at least be spending a decent amount of my time in the south pole. I'm also next in line to become chief. Just dumping that responsibility off to be with a teen love that probably wouldn't have lasted seems at the very least irresponsible. Not to mention for the next decade or so I want to be adventuring, training, learning. Not sitting on one rock."

"Isn't your father the leader of a few hundred , possibly thousand people at most? Doesn't seem like a huge deal" Azula said

"Well, we don't have to split off anymore to hide from the fire nation since the war is over. It's more like tens, maybe hundreds of thousands. Especially with the earth kingdom and northern water tribe refugees helping us rebuild. It's actually a rather beautiful sight." Sokka brightened a bit thinking about how far his tribe has come "Plus he's the father of the man and woman that found the avatar, and stopped the genocide of the Earth Kingdom. He also helped us escape on the day of the black sun. Without his quick decision we may not have made it out."

"I'm sorry for giving him the idea by the way. Leave it to my father to take posturing to boost morale and turn it into an actual plan for genocide" Azula's eyes seem to glaze over a bit when talking about the war and her father.

The thought actually made Sokka chuckle.

"Speaking of Sozin's comet, I heard you went a bit insane and were put in jail. How are you out?"

Sokka noticed Azula actually looked mildly disconcerted, but it quickly faded from her face

"Well, contrary to popular belief, I've never killed anyone." She paused for a second, sighing, before continuing "I also performed most of my actions because I didn't have a choice. Zuko understood that and released me after I escaped my temporary psychosis."

"Wasn't he afraid of you trying to kill him for the throne? Or just running away?" Sokka was legitimately curious, he never thought about why she was out until now.

"Where else would I go Sokka? Do I really seem like the type to permanently live off the land?" She said

"Still doesn't answer the fire lord thing"

"The people would never accept me. They see me as an extension of my father. He continued the 100 year war rather needlessly. Even after conquering Ba Sing Se he wanted to commit genocide." Azula smirked at her next remark "Getting burned and banished was actually the best thing to ever happen to zuko. His scar is a constant reminder to anyone that looks at him that his father didn't care for him, and due to his banishment he is seen as an outsider. There are even rumors floating around that he faked the avatar's death in preparation for the day of the black sun."

"So in other words your best option is to remain in your current position, and it would be dishonorable to try attacking the guy that re elevated you and to their eyes, helped save the world."

"Essentially, yes."

Sokka began thinking that Azula actually seemed somewhat human at this point. He always pictured her as some robotic killing machine. She seems a little distraught, even though she's trying to hide it.

He placed his hand lightly on her shoulder.

Sokka and Azula both just looked at the moon at this point. She now understood why he stares at the night, she has haunting thoughts as well. Even if she has no one to share or display them with. No one will ever understand her.

She's a monster.

* * *

Author's Note

I'm taking some liberties with the avatarverse to keep the story moving and make it more interesting. I feel like the avatar world would likely have at least a few million people. They animated so few people in the first season due to lack of budget and it just doesn't feel as realistic. I'm hoping I kept them mainly in character.


	3. Chapter 3: arrival in Yu Dao

I wanted to say thank you for all of the support on my first 2 chapters. I know it's not many people so far but it means a lot to me that people even read my stuff. Let alone follow and favorite it. Thank you. Also I had a bit of writers block for the overarching which is why I didn't write for a couple of days.

* * *

Azula woke up in her quarters a bit after sunrise. _I can't believe I displayed weakness to that slothape_. The teachings of her father started echoing through her head, _don't show weakness, don't show emotion, people must fear you. _

"It did feel nice for once in my life to have someone display genuine emotion towards me". She thought back to her childhood, even as a child people feared her, if not for her prowess then for who her father was. Or just the fact that she was terrible at displaying outward emotion. A trademark smirk crept up on her face "It doesn't matter, he will abandon me like everyone else once he sees the monster for what it is".

Before she could continue her train of thought there was a knock on her door.

"speak"

"Apologies princess. The captain has asked me to inform you that we will arrive to Yu Dao within the hour." stated one of azula's guards

"You may leave"

After Azula got dressed in her armor she ventured onto the deck. She heard a blade cutting the air and looked for the source. She stood back and watched as Sokka went through his stances and practice his reflexes. She was a bit surprised that the fool would be up this early training. Then he spotted her.

"So, why Yu Dao first? Anything significant happening there? Should we be on guard?"

"Well, it's still a fire nation colony. Even though there are talks of just handing it back to the earth kingdom. We're going to see what their main concerns are, where they stand, if any major problems have begun since the troop withdrawal started, etc."

"So it's a political journey to let the colonies know we still stand with and protect them, and that we won't just abandon them?"

"Precisely" said Azula fighting a slight smile. Contrary to popular belief she does care about her nation's people.

"What are we protecting them from exactly? The way you're talking right now it seems kinda unclear" He said, comically raising an eyebrow and looking at her derpily

"Just because the war is over it doesn't mean human nature has suddenly changed Sokka" They both looked a little dejected as she continued "There are struggles over territory, when in reality it belongs to no one. With the fire nation troops removing their presence from the Earth Kingdom, bandits, mercenaries, and the like have become bolder. They've been attacking some towns, attacking those they see as fire nation citizens even if they've been here for 80 years, etc." Azula looked as if she had more to say but contained herself

"….and aang can't be everywhere at once, so here we are."

At that moment the whistle on the ship began to sound. They were nearing Yu Dao.

As they reached land they noticed a decently sized crowd had gathered. The gangway was lowered, the servants rolled out the red carpet, The carpet had a gold trim of fire embroidery. The captain of Azula's guards acted as a herald and announced "Please welcome Princess Azula, and crown prince of the Southern Water Tribe, Sokka!" After hearing these names the crowd cheered. They never dreamed of seeing royalty, especially legends such as Sokka and Azula. Fierce enemies during the war, now working as partners. Their combat prowess and strategical minds are unmatched.

Sokka and Azula appeared at the top of the ramp. At the sight of them everyone bowed until Azula told them to rise after a few seconds. Sokka gave Azula a quick nudge and whispered "I think I will never get used to being royalty. They way they all look at me is unnerving"

As they walked down Azula whispered with a slight scowl "You're their hope and who they aspire to be, _act like it_ and don't make a fool of us." At this she returned to looking forward and did what Sokka could only describe as a princess smile and wave. He put on his trademark goofy smile and nodded towards the crowd. Azula's guards kept the crowd at bay as they spoke with mayor Morishita.

"Hello princess, prince, it is an honor to meet you" He said in a half bow before rising. "I would like to discuss matters of importance in my home, I do not wish to put the town into panic"

Sokka raised his eyebrow at this, he was not expecting action so soon, especially when everything seemed so normal.

Azula told most of her guards to stay on or near the ship. They mayor lived in a decently sized home, it wasn't huge by any means but comfortable for a man of his status. It was cleanly and organized. After introducing his wife and daughter to them they sat in his study so they could speak freely and in private.

"It's unfortunate we have to meet under such circumstances princess." said Morishita

"Yes, it is, so what do you want? Your letter by messenger hawk made it sound fairly urgent." Azula said.

"Have you heard of the Fellowship of the First Fist?" he said with his expression turning a bit grim. "They've been looting and taking over small towns and killing anyone who stands against them."

"I would assume this is a great time to try to take territory, with the earth kingdom not under a strong hold since King Kuei is seen as weak, and with more fire nation troops moving out by the day." Said Azula. Sokka hid a grin at how astute she was as always.

"Yes, they seem to be one of the largest groups, deserters and bandits. They're no longer sticking to trying to control small towns. I've heard rumors that they plan to attack Yu Dao within the next 3 days."

"So no pressure to come up with a plan quickly then huh?" said Sokka. Azula shot him a quick scowl that reminded him a little of Katara scolding him.

"Do you have any idea of how you will be attacked? Numbers, level of skill, tools, weapons?….."

"Yes princess, The main group has numbers upwards of seventy-five. They are mainly composed of powerful firebenders or men using fire oriented weaponry. Yu Dao only has a small force of fighters and is only a town of a couple of hundred predominantly non bender non fighters." They mayor seemed to be visibly shaken at this point "From what survivors have said I would venture a guess that they will send between 20 and 30 warriors to run the town over, usually sprinting through on mongoose lizards, komodo rhinos, burning buildings….and people"

"Thank you, that will be all. Leave us." said Azula, seemingly not concerned at all. After the mayor walked out she turned to Sokka "Judging by that stupid grin on your face I'm assuming you already have a plan."

"You know it princess."

* * *

Sorry for the long wait and kind of short, had a rough week, I should be posting the next update in a few days since I already have ideas for it. May even hash it out tonight. I'm thinking of starting to make chapters between 2-4k words so let me know if that's a decent length.


	4. Chapter 4: Memories

It was the day of judgment. As Sokka got suited up for battle he began to think about how he got to be here.

_Helmet_

When he became royalty he was informed by his father Hakoda and some advisers that his combat armor needs to be more unique to signify his bump in status. When Sokka was crafting his new armor he wanted it to look more like how he felt in battle. The helmet was black with the standard neck cover coming out of it but the wolf features looked less cartoonish. Most prominently being the red eyes. From the reactions he got it was a real crowd pleaser.

_Curiass_

In standard water tribe fashion it had 2 layers. One at the shoulder and another under it that covered the rest of the torso. After putting more thought into it since he would mainly me facing earth, nonbenders, and firebenders it didn't make sense to not have leather armor for his torso. It still offered decent protection against blunt force but didn't heat up nearly as quickly as metal armor. Plus it was lighter than metal armors which is important for a nonbender, since his advantage lies in his speed and reflexes. Every fraction of a second matters. An added bonus it it being slightly more difficult for ty lee to chi block him while he was learning about the technique from her. For some reason she felt like a hands on demonstration while "dancing" (training) was needed.

_Bracers_

He had some leather pockets installed into his steel bracers to hold his throwing knives. He was fairly good with his boomerang during the war but wanted to see if he could become better with a little training from Mai. Realistically she just kind of stood there stoically while telling him what he was doing wrong and yawning. Progressively her training got more and more ridiculous to the point where Sokka was wondering how necessary it was. Who is going to be hitting small targets hundreds away with his boomerang and throwing knives? Although later he figured out the point, if he can hit the small stuff, the big stuff like a person on an exact bodypart would be a joke. When he started casually pinning fruits from trees to walls hundreds of feet away he couldn't help but put on his big dumb smile and beardog hug Mai. He figured the monotone yay and pat on the back was her version of excitement.

At this point Sokka remembered how when he was being chased by the trio he had to swat at or dodge her arrows, he was good then but wanted to be better. He expected her to have some form of a reaction when he asked her as a final training favor to throw things at him so he could increase reaction time but she held the same face and just said "ok". They started off for a few days with rocks, it was great fun being smacked in the face by rocks for hours daily, he swore he saw a very slight smirk a few times when he would say ow.

When he was finally able to consistently catch them he asked her to upgrade to unsharpened knives, he wore his leather fingerless gloves just to be safe. The main difficult part was that he had to only touch the sides or he would get a cut. It took a few days, and a lot of cuts until he finally got it down.

As a final test he asked her to throw one of her real knives straight at his chest. All she said was ok and instantly threw one from her sleeve. He caught it with two fingers and wanted to scream at her, but then realized it was a reflex test and she knew he could do it. He did a happy dance jumping from one leg to the other with his hands in the air screaming "THANK YOU SIFU HOTWOMAN!". She just facepalmed and sighed.

_Swords_

Space sword was easy enough to find. After the war celebrations were over he just asked Aang to borrow Appa for a day and told Toph he needed her help. Sokka had a fairly good memory so he remembered the general area space sword was dropped. All Toph had to do was walk around for an hour before she sensed it. He wanted to find some way to thank Toph but all she said was she didn't want him to be more useless than he already was without bending and to not worry about it, then punched his arm. She was surprisingly strong for a girl of her size. He knew she was joking, and shot back with an "I see what you did there." She just stomped and launched him into the air. Totally worth it. Thankfully he landed on Appa, guess Toph was feeling generous today.

After he got space sword back he decided to spar with Zuko to settle an old argument, Zuko used dual swords. Unsurprisingly it went horribly. Sokka asked him how he was so skilled and he pointed out that he trained with Piandao as a kid before his banishment, he had months of experience while Sokka only had a few days. While he learned a surprising amount in those few days it just wasn't enough.

Under Zuko's suggestion, he went to train with Piandao for a few months. The war was over and its doubtful anything was going to happen within 6 months that the rest of the Gaang couldn't handle without Sokka's masterful plans.

Piandao was able to go much more in depth now that they had so much time. He explained the 2 swords naturally have the advantage against 1 in combat, especially since Sokka's sword doesn't have a lot of range. Given the situation he should make another sword ad begin training in that style.

They decided it would be best to stick with another jian sword, but Sokka was stuck on which material to choose. It was then that a certain piece of steel caught his eye, white steel. He loved how it contrasted with space sword, it actually looked pure white if the light hit it correctly. Piandao told him it was an excellent choice. It was a lighter steel but easier to sharpen to a finer edge, it would practically glide through the air. It was going to be a fun night of heating, folding, hammering and sanding out the correct shapes.

For the sake of contrast with space sword and the white steel, he decided to make the guard and pommel the exact same design as space sword, but black. The grip was made using ivory. It was a bit lighter than space sword but Sokka loved the way it flowed and felt. As a final touch he gave it a white scabbard adorned in silver at certain points, it was truly an astonishing sight.

The next day after he was better adjusted to the weight the training began. Piandao explained that Sokka already exemplified prodigious amounts of battlefield awareness and planning, his main issues lied within finesse, skill, strength, and reflexes. Things he would need to continually hone even after he left the Island. Sokka mainly trained in stances with Piandao occasionally doing something to keep Sokka on his toes, such as sneak attacks, things thrown from fat to either break his concentration or hit him if he couldn't tell the difference. Among other actions.

It wasn't surprising to Sokka that he had to relearn stances. The ideas were the same but the execution with two swords was decidedly different. He could still use some single sword techniques, although 2 swords opened up whole new worlds for him. He had the option to be defensive and offensive at the same time without giving up nearly as much speed as a shield would have. Especially since water tribe shields weren't exactly great vs firebenders of decent skill. The fact that one sword could act as a distraction while he was performing a disarm was also an amazing advantage.

It did surprise Sokka how quickly he picked these things up. Towards the end of his stay on the island he was nearly on equal footing with his master. Although he still ended up disarmed most of the time, the times he disarmed his master elated him.

Of course most people he would likely be facing would not be swordsmen, so he sat and listened to piandao about how to combat fire and earthbenders. Both aren't amazing up close so that's a heavy advantage to a trained non bender, its unlikely they put nearly as much focus into close quarter combat. Also no matter how powerful they are they will always have a pattern.

_Azula's hairpiece_

Once sokka got back to the Fire Nation he had to restore his _honor_ so he challenged Zuko again. It was actually a decent showing for Zuko but Sokka realised they weren't really comparable anymore. As soon as he was disarmed Zuko just smirked since he could finally go all out in training. Most of the time the Gaang didn't stay around the capital, and his uncle really opened up a tea shop in Ba sing Se, so there was virtually no one to train with on equal footing.

With his firebending and swords Sokka and Zuko were actually fairly evenly matched. Although at times Sokka had to result to boomerang shenanigans. After their sparring sessions (which were the highlight of Zuko's day, firelord paperwork and problems were astoundingly boring. Even with Sokka there to help solve some of them) Zuko would begin talking about personal issues. Usually referring to Azula's mental state. She had tried to kill him but he completely understood she wasn't all there at the time.

Sokka was shocked to hear the things Azula had been through/was currently experiencing. The visions of her mother, her constantly asking the vision why it didn't love her. Why she wasn't good enough. If she could ever be loved since she was an abomination and a monster. Zuko even tried putting her and Ozai together to see if it would help her mind, it was a horrible idea. Ozai seemed to take pleasure in the fact that she was insane almost to the point of being a beast.

The more Sokka thought about it, the more he realized Azula never had anyone there for her to even show her kindness. Her father saw her as a failed weapon with no use now, her uncle always feared her, even her brother until recently never trusted her. Not that it mattered much since he was banished during her formative years.

As they kept talking Zuko began to feel more like a brother than a friend. He also actually began to care about Azula, and sometimes understood her better than Zuko did since he was too close to the issue. One day he gave Sokka her hairpiece he found After the Agni Kai, it was among her things in her trashed chambers. He asked him to keep it and use it as a reminder that he had to be a friend for her when she actually did get out of the asylum. He kept it in his back pouch.

_Present_

As sokka finished gearing up he fully remembered why he was here. He had to protect the princess, and let her know that she wasn't alone, and never would be again.

* * *

I wrote this chapter in a bit of a different style since it is moreso exposition/backstory. I hope it is still to your liking.


	5. Chapter 5: I Care

Sokka knocked on Azula's slightly ajar door. She looked at him a bit quizzically, It was sunrise but from the info of their scouts they still had a few hours, yet he was already fully armored. He didn't seem stressed so maybe it wasn't about an attack.

"Hey Azula" Sokka scratched the back of his head "I just wanted to say it will be an honor working with you today."

"Oh?" Azula said it her usual uninterested tone. Although she thought "_this seems a bit strange, why would he be nervous to say this. Does he still consider me above his station despite his elevated status?"_

"Well, it's probably a terrible thought but I always enjoyed watching you fight, even if it was against us. You were always very graceful, elegant, and purposeful in your movements. Especially on the day of the black sun. It was a sight to behold. I'd almost call it beautiful"

Sokka stared at her face trying to gauge a reaction, when he could see none he figured it was as good as he was going to get. As Sokka bumbled out the door he heard Azula grumble a thank you. He had a blissful face in relief while walking back to his room, glad his attempt at a compliment wasn't a failure.

Azula fought, unsuccessfully, to hold back a blush. She hadn't been complimented in a serious capacity since Chan's party. She was also nearly shocked by the fact that he didn't just see her as a powerful weapon while she was fighting. The way he described it it almost sounded like she was art in motion.

Ever since she was a child she just wanted people to respect her abilities. She cringed thinking about how she once wanted her uncle's approval that she would become a great warrior. He sent Zuko a custom blade from a general he had defeated during the siege of Ba Sing Se, while giving her a doll. A completely meaningless trinket. As if she was just another little girl. At that moment she realized no matter how powerful she became he would never respect her abilities.

After the war while she had time to think she never took most of her father's compliments seriously. He saw her as a tool and a weapon, he was likely just trying to keep her happy. She heard from Zuko how he just burst out laughing instead of showing a modicum of concern when she had lost her mind.

"Well, I suppose I can't disappoint after that. Today he will see more art."

**The battle begin_s_**

Commander Bing Huo lead his men towards Yu Dao. As they approached they saw one man, sitting on a rock. Waiting. He was clad in full black armor that looked like a wolf. His swords staked into the ground on either side of him. Did he actually intend to face them alone? He spoke

"If you leave now and stop pillaging villages, you get to live. If you take one more step you will die a quick but likely not painless death." He didn't raise his head as he said this.

Commander Huo's men hooted and howled in laughter. At this moment he raised his head to look commander in the eye.

The commander froze for a second, Judging by his eyes he was water tribe, and the armor…."_There's no way. Why was water tribe prince, __the amarok,__ here?"_ After a few moments he began to shake off his initial fear. It was just one man, he could not have brought many forces with him or he'd have heard about it. Although it was a bit unsettling that the prince never changed his facial expression, disdain mixed with features telling the commander his threat was true.

Huo decided to continue on. It was just one man.

He saw the commander's eyes, they displayed fear but he didn't believe Sokka could make good on his threat. Sokka dropped the rocks he was fumbling around with while he waited and reached to either side of him, clenching the grips of his swords.

The commander raised his hand preparing to signal an attack.

At this point Sokka drew his swords out of the ground, they scraped along the flint rocks he had positioned them near. The sparks lit the fuses he had previously set, linked to explosives hidden by a few earthbenders in town. The explosives went off. Sokka could tell at least half the men were dead or unconscious even through the smoke, some of the firebenders managed to protect themselves or the brunt of the explosion focused on the armor a few of them possessed.

"Azula!" he called out.

Azula jumped and boosted herself over the walls of yu dao with her flames. Phase 2, cleanup.

Azula boosted towards the troops and did a little flip in the air, kicking a giant ball of flame at the troops, they were daunted by her flames. One firebender couldn't get out of the way or bend her fire in time and was nearly incinerated by her flames. His screams obscenely loud. When she landed she punched twin dragon flames to keep them on their toes and from forming a coherent offense. Knocking two more out cold.

A few archers tried to line up shots but were promptly burned by azula or knocked out by sokka, they were terrible at close range combat. Not even warranting a full attack.

As the troops saw the water tribesman racing towards them with his swords, slaughtering or simply knocking out with his hilt any who tried to attack him. The numbers surrounding him seemed irrelevant, he was too skilled, and far too fast at that. Any flames shot at him were swatted and smothered by his black sword. His white sword seeming to cut through people, and limbs, as if they were butter.

they tried to run. They were promptly stopped by a large wall of flames. The only plausible path of escape blocked.

Sokka smirked, the fire nation imperial guard finally coming into play.

As the men saw Sokka and Azula stalking towards them, blue flames in the background illuminating them, they surrendered. All told only 6 men were still alive and conscious, at least 5 unconscious. The imperial guard handcuffed them, leaving the rest for the citizens to dispose of the dead.

"Well I can see why team avatar was so elusive and successful, I'm impressed, this seems like something I would plot." Azula said

"No sweat princess." Sokka said while grinning and sheathing his swords after cleaning them, he stared into her beautiful golden eyes for a few seconds before he got the feeling something was off.

Azula noticed his face and remained silent. Thinking he was simply deep in thought about what they just accomplished.

**_Archer_**

An archer stalked his prey in the bushes. He could see them speaking in the distance but couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. If he returned after this monumental of a failure he would likely be killed.

He decided to attempt to kill the princess, he noticed her royal hairpiece hundreds of feet away. This wouldn't be seen as a complete failure as he will have avenged his fallen brothers. He took his aim.

* * *

Sokka heard the bow firing, he caught the arrow while it was just a few inches away from Azula's eye.

Azula noticed the arrow. She was happy he caught it, but not really surprised she was less than a second away from death. Azula then noticed his eyes, he was...enraged? For her? That's strange. She could swear his eyes contained a blue fire at this point.

Sokka could tell the direction the bow was fired from and began to race towards the archer's position. Being light on his feet now due to some training from ty lee he jumped up a few rocks to get on top of the hill. He found the archer. Seemingly pleased with himself thinking he succeeded, and attempting to hide while loading another arrow.

Sokka gave him two right crosses and an uppercut that lifted him into the air. He landed on his back at the bottom of the hill.

The imperial guard asked if they wanted him immediately executed, Sokka and Azula thought years or decades in prison was more fitting. A quick death was kind. The prisoners were taken into Yu Dao, The crowd was elated and roaring. Mayor Morishita stated there would be celebrations that night within the city and the crowd obviously agreed. Sokka and Azula both agreed that leaving the prisoners overnight before interrogations would be a wise move to make them more nervous.

* * *

At night the town was lit by lantern and dances. They were also merry with wine and music.

Sokka smirked a bit, guess the earth nation had a good effect on the fire nation people, they actually knew how to celebrate instead of being so stiff.

Azula was watching him from a distance. He was still dressed in his armor, besides his hlmet, as was she.

Sokka was sitting alone, seemingly waving off anyone asking to dance or to celebrate with him. He occasionally smirked but then went right back to his serious face. She hadn't known him, truly, for very long but this was a bit concerning. She assumed she knew what was wrong and went to speak with him. As she approached he met her gaze.

"It gets easier over time, you were fighting to protect others. You shouldn't feel guilty about needing to kill." She stood calm and composed, arms crossed.

"Azula, I'm not a fool. I know my actions resulted in hundreds of deaths during the war, especially at the northern air temple and on the day of Sozin's comet. It's not like those airships were completely empty and had nice fluffy landings after we cut them in half. I'm a warrior. I know what that entails." Sokka calmly stated

"If that's not it what are you concerned about?" Azula asked, raising an eyebrow in an inquisitive manner

Sokka sat in disbelief and thought "_Did she really not consider that I could be concerned about her?_" He stood and said "if you're going to burn me at least give me 5 seconds"

"Why would I…."

He then wrapped his arms around her and nestled his cheek into her silky hair after kissing it "You almost died, I was thinking about you Azula. I care about you."

Azula went from calm, to bewilderment at what he said, then realizing what it meant, to shock. "_HE CARES? The only people to care about me outside of Zuko were __M__ai and __T__y __L__ee, and I had to know them since childhood to accomplish that monumental feat_" she couldn't help but blush.

To Sokka's utter shock she removed her arms from her chest and wrapped them around him.

"This feels nicer than when Ty Lee did it." She stated, she felt him smirk at that. He stroked the hair that ran down her back and she thought she would explode like one of the bombs from earlier due to how hard she was blushing.

Sokka was feeling bold. He squeezed her a little tighter, she nestled into his chest.

A thought crept into Azula's mind that made her smile

"_We will dominate the earth!"_

* * *

Decided to start a bit of the romance this chapter. I feel it is in character for Azula to fall hard, and fast due to the beach episode. She craves love despite her sociopathic tendencies. Sokka likely has not realized what he has gotten himself into completely.


	6. Chapter 6: Elegance

_Sokka_

As Sokka walked towards Yu Dao's prison he thought about the previous night and smiled. His heart was skipping beats while he stroked her hair. He never felt more comfortable than he had in that moment, even with Suki. At this thought he became slightly disheartened.

"Man, she still has to tell me how to act in public as royalty. She'd never see me as a potential partner. Although she did laugh at all of my jokes last night, even though the laugh was unsettling, and possibly fake." Sokka then brought his fist down on his palm "I got it! Perfect plan. Then I'll know if she thinks there is any potential for me."

_Azula_

Azula was on cloud nine the entire morning. She hadn't felt this way in years, although now she realised Chan was an idiot not worth her time. Or further thought. He only kissed her because she was pretty, he knew nothing about her.

Azula's eyes narrowed into their normal catlike state. She then folded her arms and thought to herself

"Why _does_ he care about me? Realistically we've only known each other a few days. His reaction was obviously true, as were his feelings." Even though she couldn't tell if they were simply those of friendship or beyond. It didn't matter either way, Azula always gets what she wants.

Her eyes widened at a realization, then turned to normal while she gained a slight smirk

"Zuzu" He was Soka's only reasonable link between himself and her.

"I need to find out what zuzu said about me." She then furrowed her brow in slight irritation and held her forehead "If I'm right, he at the very least would know I wouldn't want to appear weak. He will say nothing. I have to wait for the correct opportunity."

* * *

Later that day, as Sokka and Azula were about to enter the prison he stopped her, and put his plan into action.

"Hey Azula, today is going to be pretty dull with interrogations. We should liven it up a bit"

Azula simply glared at him as a response

"_I should really get my head checked out since she still looks cute, even though she's terrifying. Although her standing there means she's listening." _ Sokka decided against his better judgment to continue on "Well, whoever pries their needed information out of their target first gets to ask a favor of the other, within reason of course."

"_Perfect"_ She thought, although not allowing her face to betray that this opportunity made her ecstatic. Beyond a small smirk of course "If this will make you interrogate in a competent manner then I will play along, even though you'll lose."

Sokka's eye was twitching a little "_Maybe last night was a fluke, or she was possessed by a spirit or something and doesn't like me" _He thought to himself. Although he was in too deep to back out now.

_Bing Huo_

He was seated in an interrogation room. Bing was slightly terrified, he had failed horribly. At best he was looking at dying in a fire nation prison.

He jumped when he heard the door unlock, then saw her face. A sadistic smirk. When he looked into her eyes he instinctively moved the chair back at least a few inches. When she saw his fear her smirk nearly grew into a smile.

"I'm glad you know your place, and how far in the hole you are. We both know why I am here, you should tell me what I want to know"

Knowing she could make his life more difficult than it already would be in the foreseeable future, he still had to hold steadfast

"Princess with all due respect, there is no benefit to me revealing anything. At best you are going to have me spend the rest of my life in the boiling rock" He made sure to remain respectful, she could still boil his eyes out of socket or something similar.

The princess was still smiling, and walked over to him and crouched down. She then whispered into his ear what would happen if he didn't start talking. How could it be worse than anything he imagined!? She then went to her seat and crossed her legs. Seemingly enthusiastic to get the torture started.

He began to speak, he had no other options. Maybe if he cooperated well enough he could get a banishment, or out of the boiling rock before his death.

_Archer_

He heard heavy footsteps, they were seemingly slow and methodical. His heartbeat quickened at their approach. They became louder as he came closer to his room, almost thunderous. He saw a dark figure walk past his current chamber's door window and the door was slowly pulled open.

As soon as the prince entered the room he pulled out his chair and sat down, then interlaced the fingers in his hands and placed them onto the table, all without breaking eye contact. The archer made no mistake, he was looking into him, not through him. After a few seconds of silence the archer began to speak.

"This is a waste of time, I'm not talking" He said it with confidence, but the darting his eyes were doing said otherwise.

The prince just sat there stoically. Waiting. Barely blinking. He looks livid and not livid at the same time, how is that even possible?

"Alright, yes I shot at the princess. If I just ran away with nothing to show for it I was afraid the fellowship would have killed me."

The prince kept staring. Although it felt like his silence carried an implied threat.

"This is actually one of my first assignments. I'm just a grunt trying to come up in the world. I had no idea things would escalate this far."

The prince leaned forward, the chair creaked heavily. It only made him seem more intimidating. His eyes seemed to hold malice within them. The archer could not fully tell though since the prince was only slightly out of the shadows.

"Alright, I'll tell you whatever you want to know about the fellowship, but you have to promise me protection"

The prince stayed in the same position, waiting for him to reveal the needed information.

* * *

As Sokka and Azula exited the interrogation chambers they turned and looked at each other, then rushed outside. Once outside they began nearly shouting at each other.

"We came out at the same time? That's barely even possible! Did you perform some ancient Fire Nation torture techniques on him or something!?" Sokka stated

"I could ask you the same, you hardly seem like the interrogation torture type" Azula deadpanned

"Well, my friends noticed I look intimidating but don't really come off as such after I start talking. So they just said to remain silent and most issues would resolve themselves" Sokka looked away for a few seconds in embarrassment

"_Spirits help me, I've fallen for an idiot"_ She thought, facepalming before saying "Well, it's a tie Sokka. What does that mean for the winnings oh great game master?" Sarcasm dripping from her voice like honey.

"Well, we could just let the favors go" Azula's eyes narrowed at this. Sokka knew she wouldn't stomp him into the ground anymore since the skill gap decreased, but he wasn't about to test that theory. "OR we could each get one favor"

Azula smiled involuntarily at this. He would probably ask for some random buffoonery, she wasn't concerned, and she would finally know the answer to her question.

Sokka's heart fluttered "_How can she be so pretty and so scary at the same time?" _He then said "Well, before you ask for a favor that could possibly injure me I wanted to get mine out the way. I wanted to go out to eat with you tonight. Like a date. Since we don't exactly have to rush anywhere. I know it's just a small town and you usually eat royally but…." He had expected a laugh, he did not expect this.

Azula was practically frozen in place, her eyes huge. Trying to process what he had just said. "_How does he keep doing this to me? I'm supposed to have full control of my feelings, see every action that could potentially take place, yet he still surprises me." _ Her thoughts trailed on in a similar pattern. She only woke back up to reality when Sokka began snapping in her face.

"Earth to Azula, Are you ok? Are you injured? Did something happen to you in the prison?" He was legitimately concerned until he saw her face return to a normal state.

"I will see you at sunset buffoon prince"

"Alright" Azula had started walking away before he could even speak the word. "_Is she so angry I requested this of her that she went into shock? Sometimes its like trying to read a brick wall."_

Azula had to walk away before her entire face became red. She didn't even remember to ask her question. "_Why did I insult him? Why am I so bad at being nice?" __She_ simply hoped he didn't take it to heart and decided to prepare for tonight.

* * *

Azula had her guards bring a few servants from the ship, and a beautiful red dress with gold and black trimming. The dress was shoulderless but wrapped around her upper arms. It flowed down to just below the knee. She then had the servants tie a wrap with a fire lily pattern around her midsection. Then was adorned by her necklace she wore to Chan's party. The back was brushed until it was perfectly straight, she made the hair framing her face have a curly flow, such as it had on the beach.

She looked herself in the mirror, thanked her servants as they put the finishing touches on her makeup (Zuko taught her that occasional thank you made them happier), and sent them away. She looked into the mirror one last time and smirked.

Sokka wore standard water tribe casual fare, with the exception that his was made of fine silks. With a new monarchy installed tailors from around the world were sending in their clothing, hoping to work for royalty. He had to admit this was a lot more comfortable. He stared into the mirror, shaping his goatee and shaving the sides of his head until only a fade of hair remained.

After he pulled his hair into a wolf's tail he heard a knock on his door, he wasn't ready for what he saw. Azula was beautiful, stunning, flawless, elegant, he couldn't think of a word that adequately described her right now.

Azula couldn't help but giggle a little. His mouth hanging open and him not being able to take his eyes off her was hilarious. She decided to snap him out of his daydream like state. "My, what unbecoming behavior of a _prince_ oogling a _poor defenseless woman_" Sokka then cut her off, his eyebrow raised in annoyance

"You can stop now, and I learned my lesson a while ago from Suki. Not falling for that again."

They started to walk towards the exit of Morishita's residence, until Sokka grabbed her hand and stopped her. She fought her hardest not to remain composed.

"Azula, I'm not sure if you like me or not. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if you're messing with me, but tonight I want you to act like yourself, not Ty Lee." Sokka said

"But I…." Azula tried to deny it but was stopped promptly

"No buts, I could already tell since that's how she treats me. I like you not her."

Azula smirked, and was happy she could be herself, thus she said "Most of your jokes and puns are unbearable."

"That's the spirit!"

Their date began. They picked one of the nicest restaurants in Yu Dao. It happened to be mid tier in terms of fire nation restaurants Azula thought, but didn't comment. She was just happy to be with him. She had a couple of royal guards stand watch to make sure they weren't disturbed. The restaurant obviously didn't mind giving them a private meal

"Sokka...what are you doing? This sight is disturbing. Are you actually eating like a highborn?" Azula asked with feigned horror.

"Well, yea. I'm not only representing my nation I'm representing you. Plus my sister kept freezing me until I got it down"

"How are you so casual about being frozen? I never want to be that cold again." A chill went down Azula's spine.

"When you live on the poles you adjust." Sokka just shrugged while looking at her with large dopey eyes. The conversation skated along with jokes and little insults back and forth until Sokka remembered the previous night and asked "Why were you acting like Ty Lee yesterday anyway?"

"I asked her for advice on how to attract boys on ember island. I'm a little nicer now and I'm still unapproachable and feared by most. You can guess how I was back then" Azula smiled. Burning down Chan's house and making him weep was the first happy moment she had with Zuzu since childhood. They actually felt like siblings again, even if it was only for a short while.

"Well, did it work?" Sokka stifled a laugh by eating a piece of his hippocow steak. Her acting was pretty bad, at least when it comes to acting vapid and shallow.

"It did actually." She looked at Sokka, he seemed surprised so she continued on "I gained my first kiss that night. Although as soon as I said something about dominating the earth he ran off."

"I'm sorry" Sokka put down his fork, sadly, and placed his hand onto hers to comfort her

"To be honest I felt nothing when he left."

"I'll bite, why did you kiss him if you didn't feel anything?"

"When Father sent us to the island for a vacation, I was feeling paranoid about my status. I wasn't sure if the people around me were there just because I was the princess or because I was me. So I wanted to see if I could gain friends, and a boyfriend by my own merit. You can see how that went." She felt him grip her hand tighter. "_What doesn't he understand? The closer he gets to me the more likely he is to run away" _A creeping thought edged itself into the back of her mind.

"His loss. You're perfect even without your status." Azula smiled as he spoke

"Speaking of my perfection, I wanted to call in my favor now."

Sokka retracted his hand and began eating at a slightly faster pace. He thought it would be something like dunking him in some water so he decided to attempt finishing his meal as fast as possible.

"No you idiot I just have a question" Azula laughed while speaking the first few words of her sentence, guessing at what he was doing.

"O…..K?" Sokka said with a full mouth, closely resembling a squirrel frog.

"I want to know why you grew to care about me, and you can't lie. I surmised that Zuko must have had something to do with it, but obviously I can't know exactly what was said." Azula's predatory instinct kicked in and she knew she had him cornered.

"_She's sharp" _Sokka sighed and said "Where do you want me to start?"

"I want to know everything. From your perspective. Feelings don't grow overnight. Especially not for me."

"Hey that's where you're wrong. You should have seen the dream I had the night after I saw you for the first time."

Azula blushed and scowled at him at the same time

"Okay okay I'll be serious." He said putting his hands up in defeat. He spent the next few minutes telling her about his training sessions with Zuko. Then how as they became so close they felt like brothers, Zuko began to drop bits and pieces about her mental progress, and her life.

Azula was listening intently. Zuko had been friendlier since she got out of the asylum, she figured it was some uncle teaching about family, love, and blah blah. He actually wanted to see her as a sister on his own. She had no idea his care for her started this early. Their relationship was tenuous at best for most of their lives, to say the least. She noticed Sokka was gripping his cup a little tighter and tuned back into what he was saying.

"Your father….your _father _was a monster. He molded you, used you for his own ends, and corrupted you. He didn't let you feel, he didn't give you a choice in your actions. I shudder to think how he would have tried to capture us if you weren't around, seeing as he has no issues with genocide. Even while completely under his heel and alone you still had more humanity than him. Then at the end of it all, after all of your accomplishments, things even he couldn't do, he gave you a title that held no meaning." Sokka almost slammed his fist on the table at this point.

Azula decided it would be best to let him keep speaking

"After his complete and utter defeat he just laughed at your insanity as you lost yourself. You were just a broken useless tool to him. After Zuko told me that I pieced it together. No one ever cared about you, and you don't deserve that." At this point Sokka crushed his stone cup into a powder. No longer able to contain his rage.

Azula could see he meant every word he said. She placed her hand on his in an attempt to placate and comfort him. After a few moments he looked at her with those big, ocean blue eyes, and smiled. She returned it.

"Maybe we should go, I'm sure all the cups in the vicinity are in a state of terror" She quipped. He chuckled

"Alright. Could we go to the lake? I don't want this night to end yet"

As Sokka and Azula left the guards attempted to follow

"You may leave us" She stated

"But princess what if..."

"If you continue that statement you won't need to worry about the fellowship, because when I'm through with you there wont be a single ash left"

"Yes, princess" The guards retreated back to the inn quickly.

Azula had a minor moment of panic. She hoped Sokka didn't notice or pay attention to that interaction. She thought back to Chan leaving as soon as she revealed her true self. Thankfully judging by his reaction Sokka wasn't listening.

"_Guess she's still in there" _Sokka smirked at the thought. He then took her hand and lead her to the lake.

* * *

They spent a few minutes on small talk while looking at Sokka's ex girlfriend/moon. He swore up and down that the moon was happy for him, it looked and felt exactly the same to her. When they were done with their childish argument he placed his hand onto hers.

"You're fire nation so you probably aren't aware, but parts of the water look more beautiful than others." He stated while leading her to the water's edge

"Please, educate me oh wise prince of the southern water tribe" her tone was as sarcastic as possible, but she was actually slightly intrigued.

"Personally my favorite part is right there" He began to point

She stopped looking at him for a second and looked at where he was pointing. It was her reflection in the water. She playfully slapped his arm, but thanked him.

Sokka looked into her eyes, and for some reason felt drawn to them. Her golden irises called to him. He held the sides of her face.

Azula felt as if her heart was about to beat out of her chest. She wanted to scream "JUST DO IT!" but never got the opportunity, for he had already brought his lips to hers. She wrapped her arms around the back of his neck

Sokka imagined this was a correct approximation of what it felt like to be hit by lightning bending. He closed his eyes and just felt her soft, succulent lips. She was a better drug than the cactus juice. He could feel her heart beating just as quickly as his.

When he was forced to pull away he felt like he was in a dreamlike state, that was perfection. He slowly opened his eyes to gaze upon her again

Azula tried to fight it, but she couldn't. Her passion for him completely overtook her.

"Together, we will be the most dominant couple in the entire world. No one can stand in our way." She set her hands ablaze "WE WILL SUBJUGATE THE WEAK!" One hand rose as a fist, the other flame became a larger blaze. While she did this, she began to think "_Spirits! Why can't I control myself. He's going to run."_

Sokka just blinked at her. He then grabbed her wrists to make sure she couldn't burn him. Then kissed her again.

"You're so cute when you're evil."

Azula developed a red hue, then buried herself into his chest. He began stroking her hair.

Sokka decided then and there he never wanted to let her go.

You get a cookie if you can tell where the interrogation scenes are from.

That ends this massive sokkla fluff chapter. I smiled the entire time I was writing it. I would love to know what you all think of the story so far.

Other than that. I was wondering if you all preferred shorter chapters, or chapters similar to this in length.

I am looking for beta readers. Obviously for sokkla fics, but I also plan on writing some kim possible and possibly fairly oddparents fics soon. So I will probably be bouncing ideas for those off of my betaer as well.


	7. Chapter 7: Monsters

*TRIGGER WARNING* Skip the reading after the second line if you are easily triggered by rape. I will provide a summary at the end for you.

"How does it feel to experience the tides of shame washing over you Captain? Your men are in ruins. You will never rise again after this ignominious defeat. Your station is no more." Azula said with her sadistic smirk, scaring those remaining of the Captain's men.

"Damn it Azula, this is why the crew didn't want to play pai sho with you." Sokka said. He was shaking his head as if he did not approve of her behavior, but everyone present knew he couldn't get enough of her. He accepted her for exactly who she was. This put a massive smile on her face more than once

They began traveling again two days after Sokka and Azula became a couple. They spent a day or so rounding up bandits in nearby even smaller towns. They weren't much of an issue. Yu Dao was happy to introduce them to their cells. Right now they were heading to a city farther down the coast from Yu Dao called Ji De, it would be two days journey. It was primarily a precaution since they did not know where the fellowship would attack next. To kill time they decided to hold a pai sho tournament.

To Sokka's surprise, and amusement, Azula actually wanted to join in. He spent a decent portion of the first night teaching her the rules. It was a game of tactics and strategy, minor battles leading to an overall victory. Azula understood these principle's with ease and Sokka was proud she was his. Not many even came close to his tactical mind so it was refreshing. After their lessons were over she thanked him with a kiss, he still felt like his heart would beat out of his chest every time she did that. He hoped she felt the same way Judging by her eyes when they finally pulled away from each other, she did.

Obviously a few disappointed souls had to stay and shovel coal into the ships furnaces, Sokka promised to defeat them later when they had some time near land. Sokka being the meticulous sort set up a double elimination bracket for the 20 or so people that wanted to play. Luckily the guards were use to long journeys so most of them brought their own boards.

Azula and Sokka being the best analytical minds on board wiped the floor with most of their opponents. Sokka liked to take his time and get to know them. A few actually had impressive levels of skill such as the captain of the guards, Sol Lee. Piandao was right, there really are a million of them. Sokka knocked both the captain and Azula into the loser's bracket, where she went into her embarrassing speech.

"So Azula, are you prepared to _never rise from the ashes of your shame and humiliation_?" Sokka said with a giant grin

It took Azula a second, but she remembered what he was referencing and blushed in embarrassment. Did Zuko leave any second he was with her out of the stories he told Sokka? "Are you ready to get swept away in a wave of defeat water boy?"

"Hey, I'm a water man now, remember?"

Azula just sighed "Sometimes I can't tell if you don't catch my insults or if you just ignore them as a way to annoy me"

"It's usually the latter princess," Sokka smirked "surprised it took you this long to notice."

If looks could kill Azula would have caused Sokka to spontaneously explode at that moment.

The crew looked on as the continued to play, astounded by the level of skill. Some also feared for Sokka's life as they continued to insult each other for the entire length of the game.

The game went on for a decent amount of time but at the end of it all Sokka won. They continued to jab at each other with comments but the eyes told a different story. Then they hugged. The guards found This slightly unnerving since most never saw the princess hug anyone, a few saw Ty Lee "hug" her which seemed more like an assault of happiness.

"Well, since none of you defeated us you obviously didn't get anything, but the prince here is putting me into a generous mood so I will give you some pocket change of 100 gold coins each. Including those that didn't play" The princess said this all in a completely deadpan manner.

Sokka just laughed a bit to himself "_She really is a princess. That's more than a months pay for most of them." _Most of the men were in too much shock to celebrate.

A few moments later they burst into a roar the princess could not completely understand, yet allowed none the less. She then noticed it was starting to become evening and smiled. "fun" really did pass the time. After dinner they went to Azula's quarters to rest.

"Hey no fair, why is your room bigger than mine?" Sokka said in pretend indignation with a little pout

"Technically you're a guest even if you are royalty now. You should see the rooms the guards sleep in."

Sokka shuddered at the thought, then realized it likely wasn't as bad as her tone suggested. Likely it was just a normal room that she had never seen due to her status. Sokka took the moment to actually analyze her room. It was neat but almost barebones. He ventured a guess that her father didn't really care much to get her to explore what she liked, this being the end result. She was just a tool to him anyway. Tools don't need fun.

"_Why is he angry right now? Does my room displease him in some capacity?" _Azula tried and failed to understand why he would be displeased, so she did the only thing she knew would snap him out of whatever he was thinking.

Sokka found it a happy surprise when she wrapped her arms around his lower back and looked him in the eyes, her cold eyes struck fear into most. He simply saw the most beautiful eyes in the world.

"What's wrong water man, did I do something to displease you?" Azula hoped he gave her a straight answer. She was great at reading emotion to manipulate it, actually understanding most emotions seemed beyond her though. She didn't even understand her own when she felt them, seeing as she spent her formative years being told emotions are a weakness.

"No Azula, just thinking. What….what do you actually like?" Sokka asked with an eyebrow raised

"You" She said without a second thought

Sokka knew she was just being honest but found it sweet none the less and gave her a quick peck. He placed his hands around the sides of her neck and brushed her ears and hair with his thumbs.

"I mean what makes you…..happy?"

"You" She said again, that being the honest response. Although when she saw his face she knew he wanted more "Sometimes insulting, intimidating, or scaring people gives me tiny moments of joy I guess. Victories as well. You just being around makes me feel something though."

Sokka kissed her forehead then hugged her into his chest "_Her father is horrible. __He broke her." _Sokka thought. He began to speak again while stroking her hair "So you told me about the beach and how you were trying to see if you could live in a normal environment. I understand it's probably deep, deep, deep down but never be afraid to tell me how you're feeling Azula. I won't leave your side."

"You can't possibly know that at this point. I'm a monster." She usually didn't feel much, but calling herself a monster hurt. It brought up memories of her mother.

Sokka, annoyed at hearing her repeat that, sat them both down on her bed. Now he was staring daggers into her eyes. "Azula, why do you keep calling yourself a monster?"

"Zuzu didn't tell you?" She smirked since it was a little funny, but was honestly surprised. They seemed to talk about everything else.

"No, we usually talked about your mental state or you in relation to your father."

"I don't really want to tell you. This is the first time I've been happy in years and I don't want you to leave my side." She actually felt fear. "_I hate and love how he can dredge up these emotions inside of me"_

"Azula," Sokka gave her a peck "Trust me."

"_Even if he does leave, he deserves to know the type of monster he is with." _Azula let out a heavy breath while looking at the ground, then began speaking "When I was little I had normal fire like everyone else. I wanted to be noticed, I wanted to be better, so I looked into what I could do. The only thing I could come up with was blue fire." She looked up at Sokka, she wanted to stop right here.

Sokka just looked at her then kissed her nose. He could tell she was becoming a little nervous "It's okay Azula, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

Azula thought it was a terrible idea, but she continued. "I worked every single day trying to increase the temperature of my fire. I occasionally hit it but I couldn't keep it as a consistent stream of blue. It requires lots of focus. You have to be near perfect actually." Azula's eyes narrowed. This is the moment it began "I was practicing at the pond. It seemed to make the most sense. It was a refillable resource and it was easy to tell if my temperature was increasing. That day I finally got a consistent stream of blue fire after months of practice. Every single day. I was so happy that I didn't realize that I had killed a family of turtle ducks. When I did see them I didn't feel much. We eat meat all the time and I didn't intentionally do it. I felt a little bad but not nearly enough to wallow in it. When my mother saw me have absolutely no reaction to their deaths she called me a monster, my father explained that she feared me due to my power. That cycle continues to this day, I'm still a monster." She waited a few seconds then looked at Sokka. Azula expected him to run, she did not expect him to be laughing.

After a few seconds Sokka managed to regain control of himself. "Man, the water tribes must be full of monsters. Our diet is over 90% meat. I've been killing lionseals since I could hold a spear. I never even felt bad about it."

"Sokka this is serious, I killed them." She said, slightly annoyed he wasn't more serious about this

"They swam into a wall of fire that was there for a few seconds. I can't picture them living much longer even without your intervention"

"I took over Ba Sing Se through manipulation!" he was there for this. There was no way to disagree.

" Azula, technically your actions caused 0 deaths. Which is preferable to another siege. Plus you couldn't have known that the most powerful man on earth would be defeated by 5 kids. You were just doing your job so to speak. I wouldn't even blame your actions on the day of sozin's comet on you since you weren't yourself."

"I ENJOY HURTING PEOPLE!" She said, fuming at this point.

"Guess Toph is a monster too. She launches me dozens of feet into the air just because she thinks it's funny every time I annoy her." He actually said this with a smile on his face, thinking of the fond memories of their adventure "All things considered I think you control your sadism extremely well."

"I'm a monster." She said this almost silently, solemnly, as if she wasn't trying to convince him, but herself. A tear stained her face

Sokka tilted her head up and wiped her single tear away. The kissed her. "I guess we will be monsters together then."

That sentence made her the happiest she had ever been in her life "Can you…..not leave? I need you by my side tonight."

"Your will, my hands."

Azula just smiled and went to change in her bathroom. Sokka took off his blue silk shirt and his boots then laid back onto the bed, contemplating the conversation they just had.

"_I was crazy about Suki but it was never at this level. Do I love Azula? Should I tell her? Would she laugh at how quickly it happened?" _He then had a thought, it hadn't been quick at all. He loved her before he even met her for the trip. He volunteered for this to be near her. Her life story was one of pain and loneliness. He wanted to make sure she never felt that way again. She was also everything he could possibly want. He fell for a princess, then he fell for a warrior, Azula was the highest of both. To not realize he loved her all this time made him feel like a fool.

Before he had time to get deeper into his line of thinking Azula came out. She had washed away all of her makeup and had her hair completely down. Void of all hairpieces and pins. "_How does she look just as if not more beautiful when shes not trying at all!? She's flawless."_ He wasn't sure when he saw her in her dress but now he was certain, his favorite aspect of hers was her royal rump.

Azula looked the specimen in front of her up and down. Admiring his lean but powerful physique. She was exaggerating a bit when she complimented Chan on his muscles. He couldn't hold a candle to Sokka. Her water boy was a man indeed.

Azula laid on the bed on her back, looking at Sokka after they blew out most the lanterns. "Hold me…..Please." Azula had never come close to begging in her life, but she needed to be close to him. His tender embrace was worth it.

Sokka wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into him. He needed her warmth like he was back in the South. "I wont try anything you don't want me to princess. I promise." He then kissed her hair and placed his head down onto the pillow. Her bed was ridiculously comfortable.

"I know Sokka," She shook her royal rump a bit into his waist "but someone doesn't agree" She did this intentionally, she caught him staring at her butt earlier, and while she was in her dress.

Sokka's head shot up like a bolt of lightning. He looked at her face and saw her face contorting between laughter and a smile "You did that on purpose!"

"Oh the horror." she said in a deadpan voice, knowing exact;y what she was doing.

"Y-You're just trying to torture me aren't you?"

Azula's slipped into her sadistic smirk

"I knew it!" He said "Go to bed Azula. If you keep doing that I wont be able to sleep." he said placing his head down once more.

She decided to tease him once more. His reactions were just too enjoyable to pass up. She grinded into his waist again. Feeling the effect she had on him made her giggle.

Sokka saw that she wouldn't listen to reason and placed his hand on her lower back. Except it was too soft to be her back. He realized he miscalculated due to the darkness, but he couldn't help but rub and squeeze her butt. It was perfection.

Azula had never been touched like this before. It was no longer funny but she enjoyed it immensely. She now knew why he wanted her to stop her teasing. She decided to end this before she no longer had hold of her senses.

"G-goodnight water boy. Pull me closer."

Sokka got the hint and after a final squeeze pulled her into him. "Goodnight my firelily" he said, then kissed the side of her neck. He was happy to have won their first "battle". He had one thought before he drifted off to sleep.

"_She's going to be the death of me"_

* * *

Day had broken a couple of hours Ago. Sokka and Azula were still in bed, only one was resting however.

Azula was watching him sleep. She had managed to turn around without waking him. He was dead to the world. "_He must feel extremely safe to sleep that deeply next to me." _Azula chuckled a bit, suspecting this being the first time in her life that someone slept better because of her.

She heard a knock on her door, it was one of her servants. "Princess, it is not my wish to disturb you but we will be arriving near Ji De within the hour."

"Thank you for informing me"

"Uh, princess I don't mean to ask anything of you but could you wake prince Sokka? He did not respond to my call and I would find it rude to enter his quarters"

"Oh, that will be no issue," she said, a smile crossed her face "I will wake prince Sokka"

"Thank you princess" The servant said then walked away.

Azula gently placed a kiss upon his lips, he involuntarily responded "_He must still be dreaming"_ Azula smiled then continued to apply more pressure. She felt him stir a bit then his hand was within her silky hair on her back. As soon as she felt him stir she had the tip of her tongue lick his lips, asking for entry. He obliged. Their tongues danced in their mouths. Sokka wondered how much more addicting she could get.

When they finally broke away he said "Well, that's one way to wake up" and smiled.

She stood up and made her way to her bathroom, before she closed the door she said "we leave within the hour water boy."

Sokka made his way to his room and got dressed in his armor. As did Azula, neither of them could believe that one night could be so perfect.

* * *

Ji De was roughly an away from the shore on foot. Sokka and Azula decided to take the ostrich horses and brought a dozen men with them. Just in case. At this point Sokka felt like they really should have brought the tank train. He would bring it up with Zuko if they had to return before the Journey ended.

"We are approaching Ji De your royal highnesses" said Sol Lee

"Thank y-"Sokka did not finish his statement, He smelled something. It filled him with a sense of dread. No, it couldn't be. The smell reminded him of his mother on that fateful day.

Azula watched as Sokka made his ostrich horse race towards the town. She did not understand his demand for haste until she saw the town. It looked like it had been burned down days ago. "_Was the Yu Dao attack just a distraction? Or was this retaliation?_" She did not care which it was, she had the men race to catch up with Sokka.

Sokka hopped off his ostrich horse as soon as he got to the edge of the town. It was in ruins. "_This isn't possible there were almost two thousand people here." _Then he began to see them. The bodies literred the streets.

"No" He saw a group of men(?) burned until their flesh resembled jerky. They smelled exactly like his mother. The burned, rotting flesh.

"No" He saw 3 women, naked and bloody. Their eyes lifeless. Pools of blood were around orifices they shouldn't have been. They were impaled into a wall with swords.

"No" Children lay slightly charred with arrows sticking out of them blood streaking from where they originally tried to drag themselves from. There were bodyparts strewn around the streets with no location for a body.

"No, No, No" Sokka dropped to his knees, then his hands, tears streamed onto the ground. Who could be this cruel? He didn't notice when the guards and princess came in behind him.

Azula placed a hand on his shoulder. She looked into his face and only saw pain. She was wrong last night, she is not a monster. They are. They all are. A few tears were sent down her cheeks as well.

"Monsters. Disgusting Monsters. The lot of them." Sokka said in a low voice, Azula patted his back as a silent sign of agreement.

The guards seem a bit distraught as well. Some had taken off their helmets and were wiping away tears, others practically fainted against the walls. Even those with experience during the war were out of sorts. This was pure brutality in it's finest form.

A few minutes later everyone had recovered to the best of their ability. Sokka began to speak.

"This was not a simple pillaging for resources. The were sending a message for us as retaliation for what we did in Yu Dao." Everyone nodded in agreement, so he continued "We are going to send them a message of our own, I want their next viable locations found within the next 24 hours, I want a messenger hawk sent back to the Fire Lord asking for reinforcements, a larger ship and the tank tra-" At this point he was interrupted by the captain

"With all due respect Prince Sokka, we follow the orders of the princess. You are here as a guest of the Fire Lord and as a warrior."

Everyone was shocked. The captain had spoken out of turn. They slowly but surely backed away from him. They did not want to incur any of the prince's wrath in his current state.

Sokka smiled and began walking towards the captain in a non threatening manner. "You're right Captain, what was I thinking. I should know my place on this mission. The princess is in charge here."

Azula just stood stoically waiting for things to play out. If she read Sokka correctly over the past few days she knew how this was going to go.

"Thank you, I did not mean to be disre-" He couldn't finish his sentence before Sokka laid him out.

Sokka tried his best to hold back enough that he didn't knock the captain out. He wanted him to hear what he had to say. Everyone around him saw he had eyes like a predator, just like the princess. Azula smirked.

"Make no mistake, everyone here, including the princess, is here because of me. I am a close friend and ally to the Fire Lord. Me being kind is a formality, one I will drop if you disrespect me again." He saw how rigid everyone was besides Azula and further hammered home his point. "I picked you members of the royal guard since you have the most experience against firebenders, and at least a modicum experience against earthbenders, but you are nothing before the Fire Lord whom I regularly defeat in battle."

To accentuate his point, he drew his white steel sword and placed the tip near the Captain's throat before anyone could blink. The only person who even saw him draw his sword was the princess.

"My words carry just as much weight as the princess'." Sokka sheathed his sword, then let the captain up. "Now, follow my previous commands. The most important being FIND THEM!" his last two words came out almost as a growl.

The men kneeled as a sign of respect, then followed his command.

Azula was inwardly ecstatic. As the men scattered to run back to the ship, she wrapped her arms around one of his and placed her head on his shoulder "_This is someone I can dominate the Earth with."_

* * *

Summary of final bit: Sokka discovers Ji De has been absolutely decimated. No one was left alive and there were extreme signs of brutality. Sokka gets a bit of PTSD because of his mother. He puts the captain in his place, the rest of the guard fall in line.

I really enjoyed writing most of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it. Sokka is growing into his role and I'm loving it. Also, I'm still looking for betas! I have one for avatar but none for Kim Possible. Obviously my avatar beta isn't always available so another one or two would be nice.


	8. Monsters, Together

The crew, especially the troops, were uncharacteristically silent the last few days. Even those that had participated in more active roles during the war hadn't seen brutality on such a level. The Princess slipped back into her role rather quickly. She cared, and logically understood it was terrible, but she could do nothing about it. An emotional response would not help her catch the perpetrators.

Today she was sitting on her upper deck throne , it was nothing compared to her throne at home, but it's a battleship so they had to make due. She collected most of the reports for Sokka. He was brooding in his room. She wasn't mad at him, she was the abnormal one with her line of thought. She had the troops make the entire United Republic of Nations aware of the fact that there was a reward for any news on the whereabouts of the fellowship. Zuko had sent two ships and doubled the amount of troops as Sokka suggested. Crew numbers obviously had to increase as well.

One of Azula's servants approached her, then got on both knees and bowed. The look of terror on her face was a little funny, but counterproductive since she obviously wanted to say something. Azula waved her guards away and told them to take a twenty minute break or something. Hopefully the peasant girl would feel a little safer now.

"Well? I don't have all day" Azula said, sharply.

"Y-Yes my princess" The servant girl, Mei, said. She rose from her bow but remained on her knees to show respect. "I do not mean to insult princess, but I have been in your service for years. I understand you are not very….emotionally attuned."

Azula held back a genuine laugh and kept her straight face "I wasn't aware one of my servants was a detective," She said sarcastically then continued "what is your point? Or did you just wish to waste my time?"

"Princess, my main concern is your happiness. I understand prince Sokka makes you happy. You should go to him. People normally comfort those they care about when they are in distress." Mei was shaking a little, she silently prepared herself in mind to be thrown into a cell.

Azula knew by the genuine fear on her face she was attempting to help while remaining respectful, but she couldn't fully understand. Most emotions seemed to be beyond her.

"He's a grown man and he knows I care about him. If he wanted me why would he not send for me?" Azula wanted to understand on a logical level

"He may not wish to burden you my princess. You would have to seek him out and show him you are willing to share his burden."

"What is your name servant?" Azula said in a flat tone, although less sharp than usual.

"M-Mei" she said, confused as to why it mattered. She was a no one.

"Thank you Mei, you have been useful today." after stating this, Azula then began walking towards Sokka's quarters.

Mei simply sat in confusion and happiness. Her princess had asked her name, and thanked her! She understood how rare those were.

Azula didn't bother knocking on his door. Following Mei's advice she understood she had to push a bit. He would not just let her into his mind and heart. Sokka still wore the same look of concerned brooding he had on the walk back from Ji Dee. Or rather, what was left of it. She did see a slight weary grin cross his face when he saw her.

"Hey Azula. I didn't expect you to come honestly." He said

"Why would I not come? I care about you. I would have come sooner if you sent for me."

Sokka chuckled a little "You're...not great at emotions. I didn't want to bother you."

Azula stepped in front of him and lifted his head so their eyes met. "I care about you, if something is bothering you it bothers me. Even if I don't completely understand. Do you understand that?"

Sokka nodded and placed a hand on hers, lightly caressing it with his thumb. He then wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close and buried his face into her chest. He needed to be close to her.

Azula stroked his hair. It reminded her of how her mother was with Zuko, a little. "_I may not understand every emotion but if I'm correct I...love him?" _All she knew was that her life was better with him in it, and she couldn't stand it if he was no longer in it. She just focused on the moment.

After what seemed like an eternity but was likely ten or twenty minutes he sat her down.

"Azula, it was wrong of me to tell you you're not a monster." Sokka said, looking at the ground

That...actually hurt her. A lot. "There better be another end to that statement."

Sokka grabbed Azula's hands and looked into her eyes. Azula didn't quite understand calling her a monster then holding her like she wasn't so she let him continue.

"When I was young I didn't get it yet, but my father sometimes took me away to talk in private. He said sometimes a warrior has to become a monster, to protect what he loves from other monsters." Sokka was trying to gauge her response.

"Are you saying you want me to go back to who I was?"

"I'm asking if we can be monsters…..together. I didn't think about it much but I was probably a monster to some fire nation troops. I orchestrated hundreds of their deaths. Let's protect what we love, together. Our nations and each other."

"Yes Sokka. Yes." She had a small grin on her face, but inwardly she was beyond joy. He was the only thing that made her feel like this. He accepted and loved every part of her.

She nuzzled into his chest as she stroked her hair. After a moment that felt all too short there was a knock on the door. It was Mei, again.

"Prince Sokka is Azula with you?" Mei knew she was there, but didn't want to interrupt if they were in the middle of something.

Sokka was going to reply but Azula answered for him in a slightly harsh tone "Yes, I am here. You will not be if what you have to say isn't important."

"T-The captain wishes to see you, to discuss strategies in finding the fellowship." Mei guessed by her relationship with the prince that the princess wasn't as harsh as she let on, but she was not going to be the one to put that theory into practice.

"Duty calls my love." She said as she stood. It just slipped out, she didn't even realize she had said anything strange until she noticed the stupid grin on his face. She would not be embarrassed, he had told her to always express how she was feeling with him. "Do you have a problem prince of fools!?" She said as she was leaning over him.

Sokka simply kissed her. He always love watching her face go from angry to blissful. He considered it a skill that he could trigger both.

"I love you too Azula. I'm coming too. One sec." He said

"Don't you need to do your…..brooding thing? I can tell you when we find something" Azula said while rubbing his chest

"I want to, but your burdens are my burdens." Sokka said then slipped into a traditional shirt.

"_I love how he can turn my words against me, __most people can't keep up."_ she thought. They opened the door and mei was there. Bowing but clearly smiling. "_Seeing me happy does make her happy." _

"You, servant. I will grant you an extra few months pay, but I may need your help in the future."

"Yes my princess." Mei said before skittering away like a scared cat.

"Why would you need a servants help beyond what you already use them for?" Sokka said, confused. She wasn't exactly nice to her servants. Usually not callous, but still.

"That is official princess business." She then smiled which she knew would completely take his mind off the subject since he loved making her happy. Just because she loved him didn't mean she couldn't be manipulative. For minor things anyway.

They both entered the "war room" of the ship within a couple of minutes. A look of surprise swept over the captain and a few of the guards faces. Captain Sol was the first to speak.

"Prince, we are honored to have your analytical mind among us. Thank you for coming."

"Thank you, you all may be seated. Let us begin." Sokka didn't hear a hint of disrespect in his voice or see any on his face. He preferred using his mind, but sometimes violence really is the answer. Although he wished he wasn't so emotional at the time. He likely could have put him in his place with a few words.

The men sat in silence, usually the princess asked and they responded. But she was just waiting, highly unlike her. They dared not speak before her.

Sokka observed the silence and glanced at the men's faces. He noticed they were all looking at the princess, which meant she usually lead here. Except it didn't even look like she was planning on talking. Sokka thought about it "_Azula never does things without a reason. Maybe she wants me to lead this time to solidify my position." _

"So, am I going to get a briefing on what you've discovered about their whereabouts or are you just going to sit there?" He said in a commanding tone, judging he did the right thing by Azula's smirk. "_Guess she wasn't joking about US being a powerful couple."_

"Yes prince Sokka right away." Captain Lee said. Nodding to one of his men to explain their current observations.

"Right now we are sailing along the coast of the URN (United Republic of Nations). From the intel we have gathered they are traveling southwest and seem to have ships at their disposal, although all of them are not likely to be fire nation imperial class warships, there is another town along this path and we were hoping to cut them off there. None of their attacks since Ji De have been as brutal, but it is obviously still atrocious."

Sokka took in everything he said, then noticed a pattern no one else had seen yet.

"You're looking at their targets and travel incorrectly."

The men looked at him in bewilderment he felt as if some wanted to ask him if he was insane, Azula was just intrigued.

"The second in command spoke up on their behalf of the guards "No disrespect meant sir, but how could we be looking incorrectly? They are traveling in one direction."

Sokka smiled, he loved explaining his theories. "Alright. After they attacked Yu Dao they were forced to cross the river near volcano makapu for fear of being caught. Since then they attacked one village near the northeastern range of this stretch of land, then these villages in the southwest."

The captain spoke this time "Yes, but we went over that with the princess. They likely just saw an easy target then sailed downstream."

"That would make sense, if every spot they hit wasn't nearly equidistant from this position." Sokka then picked up a mathematical compass to display his point. "I would venture a guess that their main encampment is stationed near the center."

"If we are wrong another town could be sacked sir." The captain said, not out of disrespect, but concern.

"You all are thinking too much like military men. These men are bandits now. For the most part they haven't been trying too hard to gain land. This is not a sustained Fire Nation siege, they need some place to retreat to. The mountain range makes it unlikely they would be stumbled upon by water."

When he sat back down he noticed the men were astounded. They spent days on this and he solved it within a few minutes. Azula gripped his hand under the table and smirked. Since they were already close they decided this ended today. No more innocent lives would be lost.

* * *

The fellowship encampment was rather quiet. The leader continued making grandiose plans for all the loot they had coming in from the recent raids. The numbers they would recruit, the land they would soon acquire. They essentially have a small town at this point thanks to the earthbenders in their fold. Then they heard the men stirring.

A large man walked into their town carrying one of their patrollers, behind him was a beautiful but very intimidating woman.

When he got closer he threw the man at them, giving they approached him but he looked to be dead.

"Who are you, and why are you here?" "_They have no idea who they are dealing with."_

"Man, you all really need better security. Not that it's going to matter much longer. Anyway, I'm prince Sokka, and this is princess Azula."

The blood of everyone in the group ran cold. They recently captured twenty five of their men. With ease. Someone attempted to firebend at them but it was effortlessly swatted away by the princess.

"Are you here to request our surrender? As you can see you're outnumbered." Their leader calmly stated, planning to escape and move the encampment.

"The quality matters a lot more. I'm fairly sure we could kill you by ourselves, but make no mistake, you are surrounded. There is no chance of escape." Sokka said. After a brief whistle the men began stepping out of the woods. Already in fighting positions.

With the fellowship distracted Sokka signaled for Azula to strike. Her lightningbending Immediately killed or stunned at least a four men. The fellowship could tell they were on another level. They knelt and accepted their defeat. Sokka had other plans however.

"Sorry, I'm not taking any prisoners today." Sokka said with a smile that rivaled Azula's normal evil smirk

"Princess you can't allow this." One of the kneeling men said. At least some of them preffered prison to the alternative.

Azula was just checking to make sure her nails had remained immaculate during this ordeal "My love wants you to die, you have to die."

"This will be a stain upon both of your nations and your honor! Killing surrendering defenseless people."

Sokka let out an boysterous laugh. Thinking about what Katara told him about his Mother's surrender. Then he thought about the defenseless town. He decided to humor him.

"They'll never know it, because you wont be alive to tell them."

Azula and Sokka turned away in smiles as they heard the men scream while they were burned. It was like a melody to their ears.

* * *

Honestly, I had some bigger ideas for the next few chapters ahead and wanted to wrap this up. Plus, they didn't deserve to live by any measure. I'm still looking for someone to bounce story ideas off of at least, possibly a beta, but I'm indifferent if that never happens. It was actually fun writing this chapter. Thank you for your support and I'll try to update the next chapter in a timely manner. My life is pretty stacked right now.


	9. Moonlit

It was decided that they should go back and wait until they received news of what they should do next. Sokka was a little disappointed that altogether it only lasted around two weeks, but adventure was always just around the corner. When they landed back in the fire nation night had already fallen. Zuko had a palanquin sent for Sokka and Azula, one of the largest and most opulent since it required eight people. They began towards the palace.

"Azula how do you not feel ridiculous in this. It would literally be ten times faster to take a cart or carriage." Sokka said

Azula looked at him as if he was insane "What kind of royalty takes a cart? What are we, commoners? It's about being a sign of status."

"You're kind of forgetting that until a couple of years ago, I was a commoner." he said

"Your people voluntarily elevated your family. You should be grateful and act the part. Even if we both know you're a functioning idiot." Azula fought to maintain a serious face, she just wanted to start an argument.

"I don't see how you function with such a massive stick up your ass. Do the branches on it control you like some kind of puppeteer?" He took the bait, he knew what she was doing on some level but insulting each other was one of the ways they showed affection.

The servants rolled their eyes and continued the journey. Azula and Sokka were still arguing, sometimes screaming, when they reached the palace. After an awkward minute for the servant they started laughing then acknowledged him. He quickly bowed.

"Princess Azula, prince Sokka, the fire lord has requested your written briefings now but would like a formal in person briefing in the morning. He thought you both would be tired from your journey and need the night to rest." The servant was still kneeling and only outstretched his hand to take the briefing Azula produced, then shuffled away.

Azula and Sokka both smirked and hoped Zuko didn't ask too many questions about what occurred.

_Zuko_

Zuko sat at his desk reading Azula and Sokka's briefings and groaned several times over. He loved his sister but he still knew she lied, a lot. Sokka wasn't half bad either. Some of it didn't make complete sense if you knew how both of them operated. Sokka was almost as much of a logical machine as Azula when push came to shove, he just actually learned to interact with people. After his groan he continued on.

"_We tracked them to a makeshift village deep within a URN forest." _He noted they didn't give an exact location

"_After a brief discussion they attacked." _He just assumed this was Azula gloating and Sokka cracking jokes, not a real conversation. He had attacked both of them himself after hearing some of their taunts. It didn't seem that far fetched.

"_They did not surrender"_ This statement was pretty laughable. Who doesn't surrender when they are surrounded. Even given what the group has done they'd probably just end up at the boiling rock. Once they saw they were against two of the greatest warriors and tacticians on the planet they'd have given up quickly.

"_There were no survivors." _His sister didn't kill for fun, of that he was well aware. Although clearly with her upbringing she wasn't averse to the act. She enjoyed the pain of her enemies if they deserved it though. Sokka….well, Sokka had killed hundreds already even if it wasn't by his own sword. He also had a rather strong moral compass. Those two are a terrible combination to go against for any army. The report he read from Ji De lead him to believe there was likely more to the no survivors line, not that he was complaining.

Zuko just threw the reports off his desk. This wasn't going to get him anywhere. Maybe he would get more out of them in the morning.

_Sokka and Azula _

Azula's servants quickly changed her into one of her finely woven royal robes, Sokka changed out of his armor into his "common" silk threads. After the servants were sure Azula needed no tending, and after the servant girls stopping ogling Sokka and his arms like a delicious steak, they were waved off. They decided to take a moonlit walk through the garden.

Sokka just looked around in awe "No matter how many times I walk through the fire nation palace I can never quite adjust to the beauty of it all. It's almost like looking at you." He stole quick glances at the moon, hoping Yue would be happy for him.

Azula's heart did flips at his statement "I bet you say that to all the noblewomen."

"Just my future Queen, or Water Lady? Would you still be a fire lady? Man we really need to figure that out. That could be a problem in the future." Sokka said, actually beginning deep thought on this very serious matter.

Azula facepalmed and remembered no matter how sweet and intelligent he was he still went off on these stupid tangents. "Moving on, I'm rather well adjusted to the garden. Living here my entire life and all, you'll get used to it."

Sokka highly doubted that. "Do you think we could get something like this in the south? I know it's a block of ice but this is amazing."

Azula wasn't sure at all if they could do it, but upon seeing those big beautiful blue eyes gazing at her in excitement she caved. "I promise, whatever it takes."

Sokka couldn't help but snake his arms around her waist "Thank you Azula!"

She just held on to the back of his neck and smiled as he slowly twirled her before putting her down. "_My buffoon prince." _She tiptoed up and kissed him quickly. Knowing he couldn't resist her.

Sokka looked into her golden fiery eyes after the peck and knew he needed more. He brushed one hand down the silky hair trailing her back and dove in. Feeling Azula's smirk he licked at her lips, begging for entry.

Azula gladly obliged. Their tongues intertwined in a dance. Azula rubbed Sokka's large chest and rippling abs under his shirt. He really was delicious. She felt one of his hands frolicking under her robe and up her leg. It was exhilarating feeling his fingers slowly trace up until they squeezed her royal rump. She giggled and slapped his chest, but maintained close proximity to his face.

"Naughty water boy" She said

"Only for my fire lily"

They closed their eyes and continued to kiss. Their hands exploring each other's bodies. The two warriors of royalty failed to notice two golden eyes from a shadowy figure staring at them from the balcony.

* * *

Zuko sat on his throne, adorned in his robes behind his wall of fire. His hair was done in a topknot but grown down in the traditional style of a fire lord. Guards were stationed on the far walls of the left and right side of the throne room. Sokka and Azula entered. She knelt as was traditional, Sokka only did a half bow as he was royalty of another nation. Azula wore her "casual" armor if there was such a thing.

Sokka wore his standard clothes but with his swords at his side and with vambraces and greaves for his arms and legs. The guards weren't exactly huge fans of this but Sokka insisted due to his paranoia about fire nation troops still hating him from the war and Zuko allowed it. He did not tell Sokka some of his paranoia was well founded with some of the whispers he heard.

Sokka continued on with the official report with Zuko occasionally interrupting. It was rather standard. "So they refused to surrender and we were forced to strike, there were no survivors."

"Truly tragic, what a shame." Zuko said, deadpan. He knew they were full of it but still needed to play the game for everyone else present.

Azula and Sokka caught the indifference in his voice but didn't think much of it. "Is that all you wanted to know?" Azula said

Zuko gazed at her "Not quite" He looked at the guards on the sides of the room and waved his servants forward, he wanted them to know this was directed at all of them. "Leave us"

Most began to shuffle out of the throne room, some stayed as they did not fully trust Sokka, the princess had also tried to kill the firelord several times.

"Now." Zuko growled, he did not yell but his voice carried weight and malice.

Azula tried not to display her slight shiver. If it wasn't for the scar Zuko would be the spitting image of their father. Especially with that tone.

When the room cleared and the doors to the throne room closed Zuko spoke again. "So, you two, off the record. What really happened?"

Sokka quickly looked at Azula. She wasn't saying a word. He decided to take the fall since it was his decision. "You read what they did in Ji De."

"Yes." Zuko said. Looking at Azula. He could swear she actually looked slightly concerned for Sokka. Although anyone that didn't recognize her body language very well would not notice.

"I am a warrior. Not a monk." He really hoped Zuko understood.

Zuko understood the implication perfectly. Sokka was not Aang. These men were a plague that didn't deserve to live. Sokka would not spare them. "No further explanation needed."

Sokka smiled and tried to approach his friend for a more casual conversation but the wall of fire rose "Uh, what's up lord hotman?"

Zuko had a malicious smirk "Exactly, what is up between you and my sister?"

Sokka's blood ran cold, he wanted to tell Zuko in his own way. "What are you talking about?"

"I saw you two in the garden last night. You think you can just defile the fire nation princess, my sister, like a common whore?" Zuko said angrily

"Brother he…." Azula tried to speak but was sharply cut official

"Silence!" Zuko said, the flame curtain raging into a near inferno

Azula held her tongue. He was her brother, but he was still fire lord.

Sokka saw Azula begrudgingly submit and became angry. He couldn't stand for this slander against Azula any longer.

"You have no bearing over when I speak, and I don't give a damn if you're fire lord or how much power you've gotten. You will not speak about your sister that way."

"Or what?" Zuko said. Those two simple words carrying much implied threat

"Or I'll knock that hairpiece out of your topknot and hope you regain some sense." Sokka said

Azula realized that she was feeling fear not for herself, but for Sokka. She had no idea how far this would go, but she would stand by him until the end. Zuko had grown extremely skilled so she doubted they could best him before the Royal guard came back, no matter how skilled her and Sokka were there were too many. Perhaps they could escape?

"There are many noblewomen in the fire nation and even Earth Kingdom who would love to have you. Why go so far for my sister?" Zuko said, staring intently at Sokka.

"Because I love her!" Sokka said, his hand on his sword in case he needed to swat away any incoming fire

The fire curtain came down completely. Zuko could no longer concentrate, as he was laughing hysterically.

Sokka came to a realization, he had been played. "Ha ha loser lord" He said, frowning

Zuko was almost in tears laughing and Azula decided it was no longer worth bowing to her brother at this moment. Sokka helped her to her feet.

"Your faces, oh spirits." Zuko said

"Why?" Azula and Sokka said in unison

"Hey I spend most of my day doing paperwork, I have to keep being entertained somehow."

Sokka noticed his face held no surprise at all. If he actually did see them in the garden and had no reaction then..."How long have you known?"

"Sokka, your first girlfriend was a princess, your second was the leader of some of the most distinguished earth kingdom warriors, and your best female friend is a ridiculously powerful bender that enjoys insulting people. Azula is everything you could ever want."

Azula lost her composure and blushed. He knew the second he sent them out. She had pictured herself as broken the last few years. She didn't think she could be perfect for anyone "You couldn't have possibly known I'd fall for him. He's a buffoon."

"Well yes," Zuko took a second to note Sokka's twitching eyebrow "but he is also an amazing tactician, a warrior, and can match you in insults. I figured he'd wear you down eventually with his dopey love antics. Plus, he really cares about you."

Sokka hugged Zuko "Thank you."

Zuko patted his back "No problem. You and Azula deserve happiness."

Azula rolled her eyes, but she was happy her brother had been so thoughtful "Thank you, Zuko."

She tried walking away but Sokka pulled her back into a bear hug "We have the fire lord's blessing!"

Azula facepalmed while she was locked in his jubilant embrace. Underneath she was enjoying it though, as was Zuzu judging by the smirk on his face.

A servant knocked on the throne room door. Zuko gave Sokka and Azula time to compose themselves before allowing them to enter.

The servant stepped a few feet through the door then knelt. "I am sorry to disturb you your majesties, but we have received word from the Earth King."

* * *

I very much enjoyed writing this chapter. I wasn't really in a writing mood for a while after the death of my guinea pig and a family member earlier in the month. In more positive news.

I am heavily considering writing a continuation of you are my princess. Possibly into a longfic, likely also rewriting the story itself with more detail as the first chapter or two. Mainly wanted to gauge interest.

Not sure how many of my KP fans read my avatar fics, but the next hidden affections chapter will be up with a few days.


	10. Haunted

Azula and Sokka left the day they got the message from the Earth King because the matter sounded pressing. They really had no idea why but they were requested by name. Sokka was concerned for her well being due to what she did last time she was within the city but she assured him that an assassination was highly doubtful. The earth Kingdom could not keep up with the Fire nation in an all out war, they nearly lost when a lot of resources were being spent on the northern water tribe as well. Killing the princess would be something even Aang couldn't question. Someone's head would need to be collected before there could be peace.

Given the information from Azula he concluded it may be very important information he could not risk being captured, Azula is seemingly the closest person Zuko has in his court being his sibling and all so a message to her would be a message to him. Sokka felt as if he really would never adjust to these political games but he didn't have a choice in the matter either way.

_Sokka's night_

Sokka was trying his best to rest but he was a bit excited. Just a normal adventure this time. No war, no assassins, just him and Azula. Tomorrow they would be in Ba Sing Se. It was even being advertised all over the Earth Kingdom that it was rebuilt in grander form after the damage it sustained during its recapture. No shady Dai Li agents, no giant animals to save, and no hot evil girl taking over the city. With a smile on his face at the day to come he finally rested his eyes.

When he reopened his eyes he saw Azula standing before him in a village with her back to him. She was truly a vision of beauty. The light of his life. The raven colored hair flowing down her back was an awe inspiring sight by itself. Then he got to see her turn towards him and smile. The smile that caused his heart to skip a beat. She doesn't understand feelings well at all but she loves him, just the thought of that brought him joy.

When she fully turned she beckoned him with a finger and he knew what to do. Slowly he walked towards her excited at what he would be doing in just a few seconds. Once he was a few feet away he heard an explosion behind him. Once glance back and he saw half of the town destroyed. He didn't know what happened but he had to get Azula out of here. He turned back around and saw her being impaled by a blade. The town behind her in flames. Sokka collapsed to his knees.

"You thought that was the end of us?"

Sokka looked up as a sadistic face moved Azula's body to the side. "So….kka."

Sokka watched as she reached out to him with a hand. He reached back and then she was thrown to the ground like trash. He looked up and the man was gone. All he could do was crawl towards her. She was laying on the ground on her back. Blood was running down the sides of her lips. She put a blood covered hand on his cheek.

"Why...didn't...you...save me."

"I tried Azula, I wasn't strong enough to stop it."

"Excuses don't matter."

Sokka turned but there was no one behind him. However as he lowered his gaze blood seeped into the streets. Upon closer inspection he saw people, and limbs, within the blood. Azula's body was now cold within his hands. Large swords like the ones he had seen in Ji De on a grander scale flew to either side of him and impaled the ground. He wasn't paying attention, he could only hold Azula to his chest as tears flowed from him. The last thing he heard before he woke up was loud but spoken in a chilling whisper.

"Why couldn't you save us!"

Sokka woke up in a cold sweat then broke into tears. No matter how much he trained, no matter how strong he became, no matter how good his strategies were, he had failed. He was pathetic.

_Azula's night _

"You incompetent fool." Ozai said after slapping his daughter a few feet across the training room.

"Forgive me father I..."

"Forgive you? FORGIVE YOU!? You can't perform simple lightningbending after I explained it to you. You could have blown us both up. Maybe you should join your brother in banishment. When I produce new heirs they will not be idiots."

Azula was on her hands and knees, her tears making a small pool on the floor. "Please father, I will do better."

"You best keep your word, I will give you two days." He said before exiting the training room

Azula trained mercilessly for two days, barely sleeping, barely eating, simply concentrating on her task. She did not want to be banished like her brother who had been punished only a few short months ago. She actually did feel like she missed him at times even though it meant she was crown princess. The title didn't mean much to her at ten. It was many years off at best from becoming firelord. She could not fail. She would not fail. She only slept a few hours the previous night but resumed training for a few hours. She was close, she could feel it. She was a prodigy, she was powerful, nothing stopped her.

Soon her father stepped into the chamber. She took a deep breath and began charging. She could feel it better when she took a bit of time. She hadn't done it yet but she was confident she could pull it off in front of him. She just had to concentrate. Soon she felt the power surging through her, she just had to push it out.

"Not fast enough!" Ozai screamed

Her concentration was broken and an explosion in her face caused her to fly backwards. Her head hit a pillar and all went black.

She awoke a few hours later and realized she was still in the training room standing, not on her own accord however. She tried moving her arms and became frightened when she realized they were tied with chains to two pillars holding them above her head. She then noticed her upper half was left bare. Given her situation she did not feel any shame, all she felt was fear. She could not see her father but she felt a presence behind her.

"Father, please do not banish me. I can do better. I will do better. I shall not fail you again."

"That much is true. Fear not my dear daughter, you will not be banished on this day. I have decided to give you another chance."

She sighed in relief. Then she heard a flame being ignited behind her. "Father?"

"This is a whip of fire, the fire cauterizes the wounds left by the whip so your chances of bleeding out and dying are exceedingly low. The pain, however, is immense."

"Father please..."

Her pleas fell upon deaf ears."I have decided to give you ten lashes, then I will give you ten days to fix that mess you call bending."

She did not have time to utter any more words before the first lash was upon her. Her screams could be heard throughout the entire palace.

* * *

Azula awoke and looked at the ceiling of her room. She did not cry or scream, she had experienced the dream many times. Her heart rate was elevated but she knew being emotional didn't matter. No one cared about….Sokka. Sokka cares about her feelings. She would not dare disturb him at this time of night though.

Seeming as if he was summoned by her thoughts he slowly opened the door to her room and whispered her name. "Azula?"

Her heart now raced for another reason. "What is it Sokka?"

He had no idea how he would broach this subject with her, so he just told the truth. "I need to be with you right now. My dreams are haunting me and I cannot sleep. You bring me joy so I was hoping you would allow me to hold you while I slept."

He felt like a child asking for his mother at bedtime. Surprisingly she seemed to understand.

"Come here my Sokka." her voice had an uncharacteristically sweet tone. If he had not seen it himself he would not have believed the words crossed her lips.

He sat on the bed and she draped herself over him. "Why were you still up Azula? Not that I'm complaining."

She wanted to lie, badly. She did not want to appear weak, however his words to her weeks ago came back. "_You don't need to hide your emotions from me Azula."_

"You are not the only one haunted by dreams." She felt him stiffen beneath her and thought she may have made the wrong choice, until he reached up and started rubbing her arm.

There was a long pause. Sokka found the courage to say his next statement within a minute though. "If you tell me about your nightmares I will tell you about mine. I understand if you don't want to talk about it or you don't trust me enough to do so. Just thought I'd put it out there."

With a sigh Azula gave him the first slice of information. "It was about my father."

"Big surprise he appears in your nightmares." He said sarcastically.

"It was a few months after Zuko left, he explained lightningbending to me then told me to do it. When I failed and caused an explosion he slapped me across the training room."

"He smacked a ten year old hard enough to send them flying across the room!?"

"Yes, that was a gentle punishment by his standard."

Sokka closed his eyes. "I'm going to assume that wasn't the traumatic part and let you keep going. He burned his own son so a slap doesn't seem that out there for garbage like him."

"You would be correct. He said he was going to give me two days to master it or he would banish me like my brother. After the two days when I was showing him what I learned he screamed at me that it was too slow, I lost concentration and the explosion caused me to knock myself out."

"I'm guessing he wasn't the type to take any responsibility for what he may have done to cause you to fail."

"No. No he was not. He had my upper half stripped bare and chained me to two pillars. He said he was being kind and giving me ten extra days to practice the ability. However for each extra day he gave me I would get a lash from a fire whip. The fire was to cauterize the wounds caused by the whip so I would not bleed out."

Sokka had no idea he was hiding something that horrid that happened to her, and it keeps her up at night. He turned and pulled her down onto the bed with him. Kissing her several times and going between stroking her hair, holding her face, and outright staring at her.

Azula began to giggle. "I am not currently being beaten."

When he finally calmed down he looked her in the eyes. "Can I end that bastard when I get back to the capital?"

Azula smiled and shook her head. The notion was sweet, however impossible it was. "Not only would you anger those who still believe my father is the true firelord, you would be besmirching your name. The great warrior prince, Sokka, killing a powerless man in a prison cell."

He held her as tightly as he could without causing her pain. "What I'm really trying to say is I will not allow anyone to hurt you like that ever again Azula."

"Yes, I am a delicate and weak being truly in need of protecting." Azula teased.

"Yea, weak enough to massacre a small army."

Azula's smile faded as she felt his cheek. She really hated that she had to do this, but perhaps causing him pain now could bring him long term joy. "Enough jokes. You gave your word if I told you about my pain you would tell me yours."

Sokka's smile faded as quickly as hers. "I'm not sure if you're capable of understanding since your trauma is more personal in nature."

"I did not understand love yet that did not keep you from loving me, did it?"

Sometimes he hated that he taught her to understand how he was feeling on some level. She couldn't quite feel real empathy yet but she seemed close. "I feel like I failed in taking out the brotherhood. I also fear losing you."

"You will never lose me. I will always stand by your side."

Sokka shook his head and gave her a light peck on the lips. "That's cute, but not what I meant. In my dream I saw you dying in my arms with a sword through your midsection."

"I want to say that could never happen but that would be a lie given our line of duty. You would also know it as such since my life was saved by you already."

"Thank you for the uplifting words Azula." Sokka said sarcastically.

"I was not finished you ignorant fool. You saved my life once so you can do it again. I trust you to not fail me."

"No pressure huh?"

"None at all." Azula quipped back."Now, explain how you failed in defeating the brotherhood. We killed all of them just as you wanted." Sokka slightly tensed as the memories passed through his mind. This did not go unnoticed by Azula but she decided to bide her time.

Sokka didn't bother with pretenses since, well, it was Azula. "I did enjoy their deaths very much, but I feel like I failed the people in Ji De. If I found the brotherhood sooner, or saw their pattern we could have saved those people."

"Sokka," Azula smiled tenderly and rubbed his cheek. She didn't understand his pain but she didn't enjoy him being in pain. "My dear Sokka. I'm going to be honest, if you found them a few days early the people of Ji De could have lived."

"Is that supposed to make me…."

"You also could have saved thousands from prison or death if you found Aang a couple of years earlier. Even just one or two."

"That's not really fair."

"It's not? I have another. If Aang did not run like a coward he could have potentially entered the Avatar state and saved his entire race from extinction."

"Alright alright, I get what you're trying to say."

"What you did or didn't do in the past is irrelevant Sokka. All that matters is what you do now. You tried your best. You can take what you learned and use it to save people more quickly in the future."

Sokka looked at her a bit funny. "That was actually surprisingly calming Azula."

"Your mind is easily quelled by words of logic and my beauty."

"You're not wrong."

Azula ran her fingers through his hair while looking softly into his eyes. He had performed this action on her many times. Hopefully it would have a similar calming effect on him. From the looks of it she had performed the correct action.

"Azula I have a favor to ask."

"Ask and you shall receive if it is within my power to do so."

He really hoped she meant it and would not anger at his request. "Can we start sleeping together every night?"

"Can you not get enough of touching the fire nation princess inappropriately during the day? What will others think when they see us exiting the same room every morning?"

"Azula, you're a smart girl. The smartest girl I know in fact. You know what they will think. I don't care what they think. I care what you think. If this proposal even makes you slightly uncomfortable we can drop it."

Azula circled her index finger on his chest slowly. "Do tell, why would I be willing to suffer through the rumors? What made you propose this in the first place?"

"You'd _suffer _through the rumors since you don't care about what others think of you." He rolled his eyes when he saw her little smirk. She love teasing him eternally. "As for why I proposed it. For me it would help keep the nightmares at bay since you're the main source of happiness in my life right now and I don't want to spend a second without you. I would hope you felt the same, but I'd understand if you didn't."

"I will arrange for us to have a joint room within the fire nation palace and on every ship. If you ever want me to go to that frozen wasteland you call a country our room will need to be a decent temperature as well."

"I didn't think it would be that simple to convince you."

Azula raised her head from his chest to look into his ocean blue eyes. "When I said would do anything within my power to assure your happiness and comfort I meant it."

Sokka clenched her a bit tighter and his eyes held a little fear. "Then...could we start tonight. Otherwise I don't think I'll be able to sleep."

Azula pursed her lips as if it was an extremely hard decision while gazing around the room. The joke went on for an uncomfortably long amount of time but the suffering on his face was priceless. "I suppose."


End file.
